Exercises in (Mathematical) Style

In Exercises in (Mathematical) Style, the author investigates the world of that familiar set of numbers, the binomial coefficients. While the reader learns some of the properties, relations, and generalizations of the numbers of Pascal's triangle, each story explores a different mode of discourse - from arguing algebraically, combinatorially, geometrically, or by induction, contradiction, or recursion to discovering mathematical facts in poems, music, letters, and various styles of stories. The author follows the example of Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style, giving the reader 99 stories in various styles. The ubiquitous nature of binomial coefficients leads the tour through combinatorics, number theory, algebra, analysis, and even topology.

The book celebrates the joy of writing and the joy of mathematics, found by engaging the rich properties of this simple set of numbers.